Mary Leader practiced law for many years and served Oklahoma as Assistant State Attorney General, and later as referee for the Supreme Court of Oklahoma. 

Her first book of poems, Red Signature, won the National Poetry Series in 1996. Her second volume, The Penultimate Suitor, won the Iowa Poetry Prize in 2001. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in the Beloit Poetry Journal, Southern Review, and other journals. Her poetry has been featured on National Public Radio, both on "Weekend Edition" and on Garrison Keillor's "Writers' Almanac."